I aim to please.


One of the largest points made on the ND site was how people felt it wasn't fair, that ND wasn't going to share the information about the tweaks they did. They didn't do it with the booster re-balancing either, and I like the way arne handled himself. ND wants people to be on fair ground, and equal footing, heading into this. Vash and I did the legwork, so I figured I might as well share it, and get it out there, for you guys. It took us all of ten minutes, half of which was us pulling one another down anyway, and general tomfoolery.

I like the tweaks, for the most part. I don't think I'm ever going to fully accept the Sniper as it currently is, but it at least accomplished their goal. Having played on Plaza and Lost City, it was used a whole hell of a lot more then, than it has been in the past...however long. You'll get the occasional sniper, and I think that's great, but it's not what ND wanted out of the Dragon, I guess. My main issue comes from how I feel the intent changed, and how I personally view the weapon. Like I posted previously, I think it was a great skill-tester weapon, and I was usually relatively impressed, when someone good with it was using it. It's always going to be impressive to watch a good sniper in action, but with this variant of the Dragon, you don't have that. It's a simple point/shoot/ding system, and that's the part moreso than the cheap deaths that will bother me.


Everything else is great. Improved hit detection, various aesthetic tweaks, for the most part, fair weapon balancing, it all looks good. Maybe the Sniper will change, if the community is vocal enough about their potential discontent, it's hard to say. At least ND is keeping things fresh though, that much I can appreciate.

Good games this morning, Vash and Raistlin.. And Good posts, Ender. Thanks to you and Vash for the legwork.

*Looks forward to seeing Ninja monkey in game soon*

So far I'm not impressed by the increased damage. Dragon sniper, sure I'll accept it. But all the other weapons, no. It is VERY Rare that you will get away from someone hitting you from the back or side. There is virtually no chance of getting behind cover or out of line of sight. I'm very disappointed with it. I'm considering joining the official forums just to voice this. At this rate I may not even get the new pack coming out. This is currently not fun and having the progress and stats I worked for to be thrown away just because less accurate people were whining that people get away too easily is just BS.

I'm still ambivalent, on the general damage tweaks. I'm still going at about my same KD, and I know that a lot of my random stuff is my fault, still. Being sick isn't doing me any favors, and I was already out of it, when Vash and I were making the push for me to hit V.

I stand by the Dragon being a terrible call. For lack of a better term, and because it's not terribly inaccurate in the first place, it's warped the online metagame. The openings right now, have been beyond warped, and it's a little absurd.

Lost City and Village today have seen countless people scrambling for the Dragons, and leaving Hammers abandoned. I got like, four Fly on the Walls earlier, from the high-spawn in Village just keeping people off the sniper nests. It's absurd how much people want to alter their established openings, to go for the mindless point-and-click. I'm not going to call the Hammer a sophisticated weapon, but at the same time, I still firmly believe it's the most powerful of the power-weapons.


I stand by the FAL tweak being appropriate. Two bursts so far, has been fine, to me. I'm a little more reserved on OKing the AK again, because I've gotten cross-mapped or DTI'd out of some pretty crazy situations, but I'm still not sure that it's going to kill the game for me, at least, not yet. It's definitely a period of adjustment though, and it's definitely a different experience, compared to the 1.04 online.

The changes are minute but noticeable, yet it's not that much of a shift. You have to be a lot more cautious, but I've not rocked Invalid, Glass Jaw (and now Come Get Some) only to get money with. The Badges teach you to be more cautious and play smarter, which is what it's going to come down to. You have to be more aware of your surroundings than before, and while sometimes you're just going to die, it's no different in that aspect than 1.04. The one bullet is a difference, but most of the time, it's not going to drastically alter the outcome of an encounter so much as it will affect how the encounter happen in the first place.

The Sniper is the only real exception, because of it only requiring one shot, now. As odd (and seemingly unfair) as it is right now, it's still just as cheap as the Hammer and RPG. It is a one-hit like the RPG, and has four more shots, but it can't multi-kill with one shot and it has no splash damage like the RPG has. The Hammer requires two shots, but because the Hammer stumbles a person, you can fire a round, switch to the pistol and fire a single shot to put the person down. The Sniper has much less of an "OMG" factor, in that the blindfire for it can be really wild, in comparison to the RPG and Hammer, and in the end it requires just as much, if slightly more, accuracy than the explosive weapons. Everyone, from the supporters to the people who think it's stupid and cheap, is getting far too worked up over it. We're all overrating it, and not seeing it for the basic power weapon that it is. I don't buy seeing the Sniper as some cheap, skill-less weapon while considering the Hammer or RPG as being completely fair and skill-intensive in comparison. Power weapon is power weapon--we've had them since the game came out, and this update has shifted the overall power of weapons up, so it makes sense that we'd have another one. That's all.

Also, I'd like to point out that my most-used secondary badge is Half-Loaded. Yeah!

OI VASH!!!!!
next time we play. I'M ON YOUR TEAM!

Well put, Vash. You kind of finished up part of something I was going to come in here and post, in an attempt to finish the metagame analogy. You totally took advantage of me sleeping for like, 18 hours yesterday.


I'm becoming more and more ambivalent on the Dragon. Vash and I have been discussing the 1.05 update, almost since it came out, and I think we've each brought up some really strong points, to one another. First, I'm going to finish off an analogy that I made earlier, but had forgotten to finish explaining.

- A metagame, in the context that Vash and I are familiar with, refers to the gaming enviroment around you. It can be scaled up or down, to be local, regional, national, or global. We were TCG players, so analyzing a metagame, and what we expected to happen, became a crucial skill, in determining what to play, ourselves, to give us the best chances of success, or tweaks that we had to make, to existing things.

I'll kind of shoehorn the term to apply to how maps are opened upon, and how they're played, after the initial success/failure, of that opening.

Every time something powerful or new is released, or made available, there's a large shift, towards that object. It's typically very short in duration, but, admittedly, everything does change. Then, the balance will shift slowly back, to where it was, with some slight changes, to accommodate what's new.

The Dragon is the same thing, and right now, it's warping openings, and how people are playing, but we're all in a period of adjustment. We have a shiny, and scary new toy, and people want to get to use it, for themselves. People right now, are ignoring the Hammer, in lieu of opening towards Sniper rushes. This is a good example, of that violent and temporary shift. It'll cool back down, shortly.



Vash did make a solid point, on here, and on AIM, that you do have to be able to aim with it, whereas with an explosive, you have to ballpark. It's a very valid argument, and even Vash has demonstrated that, with his varying degrees of success with the Dragon, in our games. He's gotten six kills with it, he's gotten two. While I still dislike them removing the skill-component from headshots, you still have to be able to aim somewhat, to get your kills.

This also brings up another point, that makes me more and more ambivalent, on the changes. I'd ballpark that I died twice last night, from sniper shots. I played quite a bit on Village and Lost City, because people want to play with it, still. With the damage scaling up, from everything, there's a very definite margin of error. My ability to strafe still lets me outshoot people who aren't competent with aiming it, even though it only takes one bullet for them, to my six.

I've done the same thing with Deagles and Invalid, it's the same principle.




Overall, 1.05 is starting to win me over. Just as much as you feel that it's hurting you Raist, it's allowing up to dominate situations where we are more aware, and honestly, we should be. We've had more time in the game, than most, and we've had the additional practice with our boosters. Invalid was insane for teaching me, and Vash, and I was lucky enough to be able to take tips that Vash has learned in his Invalid phases, before I got there, and apply them, while learning little tips of my own. Half-Loaded is the same thing. I have to be tight as hell on my aim, because I can't afford to reload in front of someone, Rapid Hands or not.

It's all cumulative, and even though it's creating a few more "random chance" situations, where you won't be able to scramble away, I feel that we still have more to gain, than anybody, because that same principle gets to apply to us. I don't mean to imply that we're better than anyone else, but we sure as hell should be more skilled. That's always been the goal, I think.


I think right now, my only gripe with 1.05, for the time being, is the over-the-shoulder switching, because it's messed me up a few times, and caused what I felt were unnecessary deaths. As I play more, I'm sure I'll get used to it, but at the moment I wish there was a toggle for it. I honestly don't see why one wasn't implemented, but meh.


...I guess I call Raistlin, then. Yeah!

Endloslung wrote:

Well put, Vash. You totally took advantage of me sleeping for like, 18 hours yesterday.

I'd call the police, if I were you.

Good post though, End. I totally know what you mean by metagame. Admittedly, I was never able to keep that current in Magic, so I didn't develop much skill at reading it. But whenever I saw something come out, I knew which cards which friends would likely use, and altered my deck to accommodate as best I could.

It's definitely a handy skill to have, I'll give you that much. I was never the best at it, until the end of my Magic career, when I was PTQ grinding in Extended. Then it just kind of clicked.

And, it's 'kay. I've known Vash for like, a bajillion years. He's really a saint. Speaking of, Vash, I'm amazed that your most-used slot 2 is Half-Loaded. How exactly did you pull that one off? I know you used it from 54-58, though, so I guess that really is a long time.


So, I love trashtalkers. Rolled up a few solo games before my job interview, to blow off some steam. Get put against this mouthy 53, who called me out, for reasons unknown, as soon as we were paired against one another. I end up going 25-5, on Ice Cave, which is probably one of my worst maps. 53 gets me twice with the shotty, going on and on about how much I suck. Whatever.

End of game stats have him at 12-10. All I have to do is ask him why he didn't do better than times 5, with no negs on, if I was that godawful and could do it, with my neg on. Plus, we were a guy down, and had a healthy lead almost the whole match.



I've noticed more and more lately, that numerals aren't rocking their negatives. I don't quite know why that is, but man, it irks me. I'm so used to having my negs on, by this point, that it's hard to imagine not having one. It'll be kind of weird when I hit X, and finally allow myself two positives again. I kind of like the idea of going booster-less for a while though, after I hit X, just so people can't use that as a crutch to trashtalk at me.

I can't wait to get Glass Jaw. With the new medals, it's been easier for me to cap, or come close, but there are still a bunch of games where I just fall short. I've debated on going back to Invalid for a few maps, but I'm not sure if I want to do that, quite yet. Plus, maybe I'll be like Vash and rock Glass Jaw and Half-Loaded.

GG's last night Vash and Ender. (Once I'd power-cycled my router, anyway) I had some fun calling out guys after you left for relying on the power weapons all game, they'd be all "Bitch" this, and "N***a" that when getting me with point blank shotty, or using the sniper as an assault rifle... Then I dropped three of them one after the other on Lost city with my pistol and the silence was deafening, LoL. All I said in that instance was "Excuse me? Sorry, I didn't catch that.."

I'm still finding it better with the pistol than rifle on this game, I suppose it's like having my own little 'neg' at level 36, I don't mind going evens or negative as long as the kills I get make me smile, you know?

*LOL* At leo bringing his A game. Wish I could have been there for that

While your points make sense, I still have an empty feeling from it. As I told Aqua earlier tonight, I feel like a kid who got a shiny red bike for his birthday. That kid would ride his bike all day and all night if he didnt have to go in for dinner. And then one day, a big bad man came while that kid was sleeping. And when that kid woke up, his bike was stolen. I am that kid. I feel like my bike was stolen and I'm left riding a punk tricycle.

Maybe you should join me in the world of pistol only, Raistlin... I think you'd enjoy it once you learn to ignore the deaths and revel in the classy gunslingeryness of it all.

Leo, Vash is most definitely a gunslinger, as well. I think his setup right now is actually Juggler and Half-Loaded.

Raist, I totally understand. It sucks that you feel that way, but I can most certainly understand your perspective.


I got my first Unlucky last night. Not sure how to feel about that yet. Protip - Don't AFK in the middle of a game.

Yeah, I got 'Unlucky' too... I asked what it was for but you guys obviously didn't hear me with that brilliant SONY headset of mine. Those spawns were just the wrong side of ridiculous last night, bud, easily more than twice I spawned into AK or FAL fire.

I'm sorry Leo. Your headset is really quiet through mine. I'll have to try upping it sometime.

Anyway, Unlucky is five consecutive deaths, without getting a kill.

Ill be on tomorrow night everyone. Looking forward to gaming it up with you guys.

Endloslung wrote:

I'm sorry Leo. Your headset is really quiet through mine. I'll have to try upping it sometime.

Anyway, Unlucky is five consecutive deaths, without getting a kill.

I always get the Unlucky medal.

Leo's mic is always too low.

Fun games tonight even if the frustration level was higher than normal. Good laughs can allow for some good times still. FINGERTRAP FTW!!!!

Absolutely. Developed a brutal new technique, and we got to beat on aqua a little. Not sure why that's happening, but I had the same issue in a lobby with Chad last night, as well.

We were all in a bit of a funk last night. Aqua and I managed to get some pretty good games after you left. 19-5 and 20-8 made me feel better, after some of those shaky games.


Skittle, I figure you'll pop in here shortly, so welcome to Sixthnation.

Tonight was more like my old self. I'm not sure what the situation was but it took people longer to kill me from the back. I had opportunities to find cover whereas the previous 2 nights that was nonexistant. Now this may have had to do with crappy aim by my opponents, I dont know. But I do know I had fun like I used to. Which is all I want. Only 1.8 million until I reach 60.....its been such a looooong road hehe.

Was good getting in some games with vash and endlo at the beginning of the night and then some with Ratchet before I went to bed

Raistlin wrote:

Tonight was more like my old self. I'm not sure what the situation was but it took people longer to kill me from the back. I had opportunities to find cover whereas the previous 2 nights that was nonexistant. Now this may have had to do with crappy aim by my opponents, I dont know. But I do know I had fun like I used to. Which is all I want. Only 1.8 million until I reach 60.....its been such a looooong road hehe.

Was good getting in some games with vash and endlo at the beginning of the night and then some with Ratchet before I went to bed

Good games Raistlin, we dominated.

Im just under 300k from Roman Numeral I now.

**EDIT: Just got my Roman Numeral! Sweet.

Welcome to the land of numerals and negative boosters!

Raistlin wrote:

Welcome to the land of numerals and negative boosters!

Not liking Veiled too much. I don't blind fire very often, so I can't see a use for it. Once I unlock Invalid, however...

Yeah, I didnt touch it. Blind firing almost leads to at least a trade kill. No funs.